House Oil Painting Commission

commissioned oil painting

I figured out that I could paint from looking at the photos on my computer screen. It is a little annoying that I have to keep waking it up, but I can deal with some annoyance.

As I worked on this, several parts were not visible. So, I stepped out my door.

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Would you look at that! Poppies on the hillside, poppy paintings drying on the steps. Poppies everywhere.

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It’s pretty handy to just look out the door at the configuration and colors of the hillside I am painting. There have been California poppies on this ridge since late February, so it doesn’t matter where I put them in the painting. They keep showing up (popping up?) in new patches up there.

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Painting from back to front is the normal method for oil. That means the furthest thing first – the sky; the hills come next. That paper has a sketch of the various hill details that I made while standing outside. I leaned two jar lids against it on the easel so it would stay put while I used it for reference.

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Halfway through the day, the mail came and there was my long-awaited photo! Stay tuned, because more will be revealed in the fullness of time.

Tomorrow, I’ll show you more of the beauty of Three Rivers in the spring.

 

A Central California Artist Paints Her World

I live in Three Rivers so sometimes I actually paint the Kaweah River. This summer it is running low, but as a studio artist, I work from photos, and with 22,000 on my computer, there are some choices outside of going to the river and taking a photo as it looks during this very dry summer.

When an oil painter does the glazing method, paintings begin thin and rough.

Each successive layer adds texture, both visual and actual, if one is a thick painter. Most of my texture is visual.

You can see that I am continuing in my current vein of “juicing up’ my colors. Real life is messy and it is a little dull.

Maybe that is the smog here in Central California. Thanks, Bay Area. It’s blowing down the Altamont Pass. Did you know that?

The next time I show this painting, it will probably be signed, dry and scanned. it is for the 2015 calendar of my paintings – now you know one is coming, so you can plan.

And just in case you were thinking of moving to Three Rivers, here is a little reminder of why it isn’t all rivers and artistry.

Frankly, I am so squeamish that I really don’t deserve to live here. I have a friend who routinely hacks the heads off the rattlers in her yard with a shovel.

Me? I routinely call my friend S who either brings a shovel or sends her nephew to rescue me.

Gross.

I’m sorry to wreck your day like that. How about just being thankful if you live in a place that doesn’t deal with such creepiness.

Happy Customer

Customer? Client? How about a long time friend who commissioned me to paint for her? Commissioner?

Never mind.

I delivered “Spring In Three Rivers” to my friend and hung it on the wall where she had planned for it to go. We looked at the pictures around it and knew it wasn’t the best combination.

Being slightly self-focused, I suggested that we place one of my pencil drawings on either side of the painting. Now, lest you think I am more than slightly self-serving, she already owned these two drawings, and they truly looked right together. Lighter, a touch of pink in one, and all places around here. Please forgive me for not taking my camera and documenting the wall.

You know how it is if you move a thing or two. . . it means you have to move another and yet another. We had a great time placing pictures around the room, and the results made us both very satisfied.

Spring in Three Rivers
“Spring in Three Rivers”, commissioned oil painting, 24×18″ on wrapped canvas

Spring in Three Rivers is a Beautiful Memory

Is that a funny title for a post during the hot time of year? I love spring. It isn’t hot. This painting in progress reminds me of the beautiful season.

oil painting commission of spring in Three Rivers

I’m juicing up (exaggerating) the colors a bit and it is fun. I love dabbing on little specks of different shades of pink. These redbud are so fabulous up the North Fork of the Kaweah River in Three Rivers. I’m so glad that my customer chose this subject for her commissioned oil painting.

Another Oil Painting Commission

If you’ve known me for awhile, you may have heard me say that it is all my friends and relatives who buy my work because they feel sorry for me.

Another friend used to tell me this: “If your friends and family won’t do business with you, who will?”

A long time friend asked me to paint something for her home. She lost her husband about 2 years ago, and now she is slowly changing things to fit her tastes rather than their joint tastes.

She borrowed a book of my photos called “Spring in Three Rivers” (sometimes I just amaze myself with cleverness), and found a photo that rang her bell.

I took paintings to her house so we could determine the most appropriate size and orientation (that means vertical or horizontal).

She decided, and I began:

Now that just gets you all excited, doesn’t it?

How about this view? Painting upside down usually means I have the photo also turned upside down, but I reversed it so you could see what the goal is.

I think this is going to be beautiful! “Spring in Three Rivers” might even become the title, because of that cleverness I mentioned earlier.

Why is this Oil Painting Commission So Hard??

As a studio painter, I work from photos. There is a ton of pressure out there in ArtWorld to paint plein air, which might be French for “on location”. There is a ton of embarrassment out there in ArtWorld about painting from photos, because it usually garners a lot of derision and sneering and condescension.

One of my painting mentors (virtual – we have corresponded but never met) Jack White has said, “All realistic painters either work from photos or they lie about it.”

I try to NEVER lie. You can count on finding the truth here, although I do minimize the ugliness as much as possible. This blog is supposed to be fun, informative and entertaining, not edgy, rude or shocking.

Now, let’s move on to the point of this post, which is to discuss the difficulties of a commissioned oil painting of a place I love here in Three Rivers.

I did a commissioned oil painting for my amazing friend Barbara. It was a composite of several photos – her house, all the lavender in bloom, and hills behind. There is no place to stand to see this actual view, so I worked from several photos.

 Being the generous and thoughtful person that she is, Barbara gave away this painting. Then she asked me for another just like it.

Instead of looking at my computer screen and attempting to copy this painting, I pulled out my photos again. This is because I don’t think the computer reproduction is very accurate, and because I like to work from the original source. And, I hope I paint better now so will be able to do an improved version of this. (Ever hopeful, always wanting to improve, ever optimistic, this California artist!)

Either I’ve lost some of my photos, or I’ve lost my ability to paint from them or I’m losing my mind.

This is one of the hardest things I’ve attempted in awhile! I’ve been messing around with the proportions, studying the photos, staring at the painting, looking at the version on the computer, and not making any progress.

Why is this so hard?? What is my problem??

Finally, after wasting an inordinate amount of time just staring and thinking, I decided to go outside and look at the actual hills.

I took my camera for a walk so I could fully see the end of the house that we want in this painting. I need to see the proportions of the windows to the shutters to the wall space on either end and in the middle. 

Nothing is solved, but now I have even more pictures to study.

On the Easels, On the Wall

These are some of the paintings on the easel and drying on the walls around the painting studio/workshop.  I did them for the Studio Tour. After spending an entire year just drawing the cabins of Wilsonia, it was time to paint again.

Always gotta have citrus paintings – what else would you expect from a California artist? These are each 6×6, a very popular size in kitchen art.

These pomegranates are 4×4″. Like the shoes? Ugly as sin, but oh so very comfortable. I thought about cropping them out of this photo, but got lazy. This palette served as a convenient tray for transporting these little wet paintings. The weird circle behind the painting on the upper right is an old color wheel. The palette is a gift from someone whose mother used to paint. Most of my supplies are gifts from people whose mothers and mothers-in-law used to paint.

The yarn in the photo is lavender and blue. I have been on a roll for a couple of years just loving the combination of teal and brown, so that’s what I am making the yarn in the painting. The photo is showing me the twist pattern, the size of the strands, and the way the light and shadow fall. This is called “using a photo for reference”, because out there in ArtWorld, working from photos is met with a lot of contempt.

The Kaweah River is on my list of Oil Painting Subjects To Always Have On Hand. I’ve painted this scene before. This time it is 10×10″ square, and the colors are a bit juiced up, although it is hard to tell when looking at a photo of a photo.

Ditto the Kaweah Post Office. This is the first time I’ve included the monument marker. Painting it on a square canvas got my eye confused, and the proportions were whacky at this stage. I fixed it later.

Careful! The paint is wet on these! The piece of paper is how I keep track of where I am on which painting. I could just look around the room and see, but a list makes me feel more productive and efficient. Never mind that it might be a waste of time to make the list and to keep it current. I’m 53 and I can do what I want. Wait a minute – am I 54? I can’t remember!

The top and bottom paintings sold at the Studio Tour. Time to paint another Mineral King!

Sold!

The Studio Tour was a success in many ways. I found 2 new drawing students, saw old friends and students, met new friends, made contact with folks that I’d only talked to on the phone before, and lots of other important things.

And, these are some of the paintings that sold.

Meadow Fence, 10×10, oil painting on wrapped canvas, a Sequoia National Park oil painting

Vandever-Mineral King, 10×10, oil on wrapped canvas, a Mineral King oil painting

Peach on Tree, 6×6, oil on wrapped canvas

North Fork of the Kaweah, 11×14, oil on wrapped canvas, a Three Rivers oil painting

Painting a Post Office

One of the most popular subjects for painting, drawing and photography in Three Rivers is the tiny Kaweah Post Office about 3 miles up North Fork Drive.

I’ve drawn it more times than I can remember and painted it 10 times. The reason I remember how many paintings is because I have called them Kaweah Post Office I, Kaweah Post Office II, Kaweah Post Office III, Kaweah Post Office IV. . . et cetera. Clever, no?

Here is #10, AKA Kaweah Post Office X in 2 stages. You may have to attend the Studio Tour this coming weekend to see it finished.

In order to keep each painting a little different, I paint it different sizes, from different angles, at different times of the year, and with different details. Sometimes I layer it (called “glazing” in Artspeak) and sometimes I try for alla prima (which means to finish all in one session).

This one is 10×10″, so it is slightly stretched out, and it will contain the historical marker, a new thing for me when painting. I thought the rocks looked fun – all those different grays to mix! Don’t know yet if they are fun, because I haven’t gotten to them at the time of this posting.

2008 Wasn’t All Bad

You know how everyone refers to 2008 as the year that the economy went south? (How insulting to our Southern friends that “going south” is a euphemism for going bad – it means going downward, oh Gentle Southern Reader.)

In Three Rivers, California, 2008 was the Year The Poppies Were Incredibly Abundant and Shockingly Beautiful.

Great Poppy Year, 16×20″, oil on wrapped canvas, $375, available here

A new show, Sierra Wonders, opens today at Arts Visalia, 214 East Oak Street in Visalia, California. It features the art and writing in the book Sierra Wonders. That means this painting and one other of mine.

Join me at the reception, Friday, March 7, 6-8 p.m. 214 East Oak Street, Visalia, California. I might even bring Trail Guy with me, maybe my Mom too! Feels really important. It is important to me and to all the artists in Sierra Wonders.